The Jones Girls – At Peace with Woman album art
The Jones Girls were a vocal group made up of sisters Shirley, Valorie, and Brenda. Known for their masterful harmonies, they spend years performing as background vocalists before getting a chance at their own album in 1979.
For the cover of their sophomore album, Papirtis Taj Mahal, a faux Devanagari, was chosen by designers Ed Lee and Phyllis H.B. The reasons for this choice doesn’t seem to go beyond the Jones sisters’ vaguely sari-like garb. I initially thought that it was perhaps due to the song “Nights Over Egypt” – the faux Devanagari being mistaken for faux Arabic – but that song isn’t on this album but the next one.
The typeface’s overline is extended to form a frame, a technique that reminds me of how I’ve seen Face Photosetting’s Oxford used. (For example, this record by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop or this record by cabaret act Gotham.)
